CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO.7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:

THE MODERATOR: Felix Rosenqvist, last but certainly not least. Felix is driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. A new spot for him.
Felix, last year you got the first win in INDYCAR. That was a box checked. What’s the box you want to tick this year with the new team?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, it was good to get that win out of the way, for sure. It’s not so many goals to tick off the list, except two big ones: that’s the championship and the 500. Certainly not easy things to do. Naturally that becomes the next target.
I think as a team this year we kind of want to break into the top spot of the big four, as we hopefully can call it now. I think that’s everyone’s ambition. You never really know how it’s going to go sitting here, but we’re all pretty confident. We made some steps. Yeah, we’ll look forward to see where we are in Barber.

THE MODERATOR: Let’s open it up for questions.
Q. How did you feel testing? What were the fundamental differences between how the team operates, but also how they set up the cars? Even though I realize the cars are spec, there seems to be quite a big variation in teams to what the default setup is. Have you found a substantial difference?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s certainly been a difference. It’s always different philosophies in different teams. Already in Barber, I got a taste of that. I think it’s probably not in the place where I want it to be yet. I think Laguna felt pretty good, and it’s definitely getting nearer where I want the car to be.
It’s a spec series. You’d be surprised how different the car can feel if you put in different kind of setup philosophies into it. It’s the same chassis, almost the same engines between Chevrolet and Honda, but the dampers I think is a pretty big place where you can make a difference on the car, on how it handles. That’s probably the biggest difference you’re going to see between teams.
Yeah, our car is certainly really fast. I think it’s been fastest like every test we’ve done, or second in Barber. I haven’t really been there yet. I think I’m still kind of looking to break into the last couple of 10ths. We know the car is fast, and that’s the main thing.

Q. Given your previous experience in other series, learning new tracks, would you highlight the Nashville track as one of the ones that you would expect to excel given your speed at learning new courses?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think it could be a good one for me, for sure. I think that kind of reminds me a little bit about the Formula E days where you have a new track for everyone that everyone needs to learn in a very short time. It’s a street track. Hopefully a fun track. It looks like it.
Yeah, hopefully that can be a benefit to me. But these days in INDYCAR, everyone’s really good at getting up to speed. There won’t be any shortcuts anywhere once practice is done. I think everyone is pretty much going to be there.
That’s definitely one I really look forward to anyways. Regarding if I have an advantage or not, I think that’s going to be a really cool event.

Q. Your teammate Pato O’Ward, what is it like now for you in this new environment working together with him?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s been really good actually. Me and Pato get along really well. We’re a two-man team or two-car team, which is obviously a different dynamic than having three or four cars. I think it’s really important that you need to work in the same direction, you need to be able to share everything between you and not really hold any doors closed in terms of information or any ego trips or anything like that. I feel like we’re really good like that. I feel the whole team is really good like that.
It’s a very tight team that’s only focused on INDYCAR. There’s nothing else going on. We have two cars and that’s it. That’s everyone’s focus.
Yeah, Pato has been great fun. He’s a really good energy source to the whole team, including to me. He’s a happy guy. He has lot of energy. That just shows that, yeah, it gives a lot back to the team.

Q. Do you think you are a happy guy, too? Do you think can you find room to develop and take further wins because there will be less attention to you?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, I don’t think that stuff matters so much. I think the main thing is that I’m in a team where I feel like I have a good future with. We have good plans for the future, what we want to do in terms of car setup and so on. I feel like we have, yeah, good stuff in the pipeline for what’s about to come.
INDYCAR these days is pretty tricky. You cannot do a lot of testing and stuff. Every step you make is going to take a bit of time. But I feel like I’m really in a good place for this season and next year. I feel like I’m in a team where I feel really happy, yeah, just can’t wait to get going.

Q. One of the big storylines going into the 2021 season is all these drivers coming from elsewhere. You made that leap a couple of years ago. Back to 2019, what did you know about INDYCAR before you came to the series? Did it meet or surpass what you were expecting?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I mean, I wish I could talk to myself now back in ’19. It’s a tough series. I haven’t done anything else that is as difficult. I know many other people that came from F1 says the same thing.
You look at it from the outside, you think it’s going to be like a simpler form of racing. But the simplicity is actually what makes it hard. There’s not so much to do on the cars. The tracks are pretty rough and brutal physically and on the cars. Driving style-wise, it’s pretty raw.
Coming in from F1, for Romain, or Jimmie in NASCAR, I think it’s going to be very different and very tough. But I believe all of them, they’re winners. They will figure it out eventually. I think even Romain has looked really quick in testing, as well.
But, yeah, I mean, that’s only part of it. Then comes the whole racing part of it which is super different with yellows. We don’t have blue flags. You have to take into consideration all the lap traffic. That’s a big thing that I had to learn when I came here in ’19.
In general I think it’s a great championship. It’s good fun. Proper racing.

Q. Are those the types of things you would have told yourself, technical, procedural stuff?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, just everything, man. Yeah, blue flags, the changes from track to track, how you set up the car, how you need to really dial in the car every session, just how aggressive you need to be in the races because otherwise you’re going to lose a spot immediately. Ovals, we haven’t even talked about that. That’s obviously not something Romain will do, Jimmie either. Yeah, that’s probably the most tricky thing of all.

Q. Every driver makes a team move based on many different reasons, specific to the driver. You’ve left the team that won the championship last year and moved to a different team. How intense is the motivation to kind of make that move work?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, obviously it’s my ambition to make it work. Otherwise I wouldn’t do it. I’m confident it’s the right move. I’m really impressed by Ganassi’s operation. It’s a super good team. They did a lot of things.
When I started talking to Arrow McLaren SP, I think their interest in me is how much they’ve improved in the last couple of seasons, what they have in the pipeline, direct relationship to McLaren, things like that. It makes a difference.
I think with a couple of years, this team is going to be really, really strong. That’s something I wanted to be part of. I’ve been in INDYCAR now for two years, and I was ready to kind of find where I want to be, find a family where I feel at home. I feel like I have the right tools to go and finish my goals, which is to win the championship and the 500.
Yeah, I feel like I’m in a good spot for that.

Q. You’ve not really felt how the team works over a race weekend. What have your initial feelings been? You mentioned the McLaren element. Interesting model the team uses with different elements helping to drive the team forward. How has your experience been? How confident has that made you looking at the season?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s a lot of new things happening at the team, which is really exciting. But I think the team is also clever enough to not let it become a Formula 1 team, so to say. You can always copy things from F1, but it would never work in INDYCAR because it’s such a different platform. There’s many people that tried it before. They hired Formula 1 engineers, think that they’re going to blow everyone away, and it just never works.
I think that’s why it’s really good to have the knowledge from the people that’s been at the team for a long time in an INDYCAR, like Taylor leading the team. He’s the one who can judge that whole balance between how much new stuff are we going to do and how much are we going to keep to the basics and the roots.
What impressed me, though, is there’s a lot of — when it comes to the engineering side, there’s very high efficiency in the team. Whatever data comes in, that data will then be directed down to a millions of different things. There’s a lot of time saving, in that makes sense, in the team. I think some of the partnerships with Arrow and McLaren have made the team efficient on the engineering side. That really impressed me when I came here. That was on a very high level.
Again, there’s a lot of new stuff. Everything kind of needs to settle. I think last year it was just how are we going to do this. This year things are falling a bit more into place. So definitely following the plan.

Q. You worked hard on the 500. Juan Pablo is coming into the team. How confident are you and how happy are you he’s aboard for the 500?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Juan Pablo is someone you cannot count out. He was joining us at a test in Laguna. He was super fast. He had a lot of valuable comments, as well, about the car to the engineers. I kind of wish he was with us for the whole season because he’s a fun guy to have along.
I think every time I get the chance to work with someone like that, learn a lot. You think, This guy has been to F1, he’s won 500s, championships. It’s for a reason. So when he’s talking, you listen. Yeah, really valuable to our team.
Hopefully we can get him along for full-time next year.

Q. I heard you say about the Formula E. Came to my mind that this format on racing in Formula E, you have very close sessions between all the day. Do you think this help in any way to prepare in this pandemic situation, these close sessions, you need to avoid all the crashes, don’t make mistakes in that short time?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yes, I mean, I think most racing categories are kind of following the same trim. Before we went into the pandemic, I would say INDYCAR and F1 were the only ones where you had, like, three practices, a lot of practice before the race weekend starts. This kind of feels like more back to basic. It’s more equal to Formula E, as you said, but even to everything else I raced where you normally only get one or two practices, then you’re off to qualifying.
But I think it’s good. It’s the same for everyone. It might hurt the rookies a little bit. INDYCAR did a pretty good job last year to give them some extra time in some new places. But, yeah, I think it’s a good way to move the championship in the right direction and makes everything a bit more compact.
Pandemic or not, I think it’s a fun thing also from a preparation standpoint and also physically. It’s a big physical challenge to just show up and get it done in two days. It’s a lot of driving in a short time.

Q. Obviously Montoya has worked with McLaren before. He’s only with you for the Indy 500. What do you think he can bring to the team for the rest of the season?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: He already brought us a lot with test day we did in Laguna. He’s doing a lot of hard work with aero stuff like that. At the end of the day he was going for proper runs. His feedback was very accurate, pretty similar to mine and Pato’s. I felt like he gave something more because he had experience. He’s actually driven this car without the Aeroscreen. That experience means a lot for us to listen to and learn.
I think especially on the ovals, I’m really curious to hear what he can say. If there’s anything setup-wise he can advise us to go in a specific direction. That’s the fun thing with INDYCAR. Even if you have all the resources in the world, guys like Juan Pablo can still be the key to make a breakthrough on making the car faster because it’s just really back to basics.
Sometimes, yeah, you don’t need to look that far to go forward where you think you need to spend millions, like in Formula 1 for example, everything is about the money. INDYCAR you can actually go really quick with a small budget.
I think the hard thing in INDYCAR is to be quick every weekend, knowing track conditions, how is this track going to be different from that. Everyone can get it right every now and then. That’s a cool thing. It’s just about getting it right all the time.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Felix.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 11 AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Charlie Kimball, driver of the No. 11 Tresiba Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Racing. Charlie will race this year in the GMR Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 15th, then the big bopper, the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 30th.
Thanks for coming in.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Short program this year. How are the preparations going, especially considering the team you’re driving for is looking really strong in testing?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Yeah, it showed pretty well I think the work we put in last year in races because we didn’t have the opportunity for a lot of testing. The race development, the development we did during races, seems to have been paying off in the off-season so far.
I think as a team, that momentum is quietly building and growing pretty consistently. The engineers, the mechanics are all working really well together. Sebastien and Dalton seem to be working well together, which bodes well as we get towards the month of May program.
To me it means a lot to continue the relationship with Novo Nordisk. This is our 13th year together now, two years in Indy Lights, and a decade in INDYCAR. The relationship to be able to continue to support and advocate for the diabetes community through the motorsports program.
As I joke, it’s a cause close to my heart and my pancreas. Really appreciate their years of support and being able to support the diabetes community in that way.

THE MODERATOR: How tough is it for you to get ramped up mentally for a shorter program rather than a full season? When you see everybody else, they’ll be on the track. A little bit tighter this year with Barber only being a few weeks before the month of May. But to know it’s May and May only, is that tougher for you?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: I think it may almost be easier in that all that I have to think about is three weeks. It’s two races. The GMR Grand Prix, qualifying weekend for the Indy 500, then 500 miles. The rest is secondary to that, which is nice.
The goal is definitely to win the biggest race in the world for A.J. Foyt, put another baby Borg on his shelf. It allows me to be a little more hyper-focused on the job at hand, the races I am in this year.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions.
Q. It was interesting you come in right after T.K. there. He was talking all about how he’s filling the rest of his time. Have you got any other plans? You’re probably gold standard, so it’s difficult to get a ride in IMSA. What options have you got out there?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Yeah, the sports car stuff is a little hard with the driver equalization, the licensing thing. They’re looking at evaluating that.
Options exist. I mean, I’ve always said have helmet, will travel. I love being at the racetrack one way or another. I plan to be at every INDYCAR race somehow this year. Still figuring out what that looks like.
But I listened to Tony’s response a little bit. My wife is going back to work full-time, so I get a little more time with the kids, which is great. A year old and a two-and-a-half year old, two mobile children is almost harder than a couple of sessions at Pit.Fit. Keeps me on my toes (smiling).

Q. When you say you would race in some capacity, obviously you and Josef are two of the most eloquent drivers we have, along with Hinch, would you be interested in getting behind the mic, talking about the sport?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Well, I’ve always said that I have a face for radio, so I’m not sure that I’d be on for broadcast TV-wise.
Figuring out what that looks like. Still figuring out all of the off-season I’ve been working towards trying to get in the car as much as possible. That continues into and throughout the season, whatever that looks like.
At the same time it’s trying to fill my time, fill my days, and see if there’s a way to share my passion for INDYCAR and the Road to Indy and racing, tell that story if it’s broadcast or radio or something else that we haven’t thought of yet.

Q. Obviously you’re doing the races with A.J. Foyt this season. Do you think there might be a possibility to do more races with them later in the year depending on how the season goes?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Trying to, absolutely. Like I said before, I have helmet, will travel. There are a few races that last year I didn’t get the opportunity to do because of the pandemic and didn’t do in 2019 because of my schedule of races. Highest among them is probably Long Beach, then Laguna and Portland. Those West Coast races are pretty close to home and special to me.
If there’s a way to put together a package for one or two or three of those, I’ll definitely do that. I’ve talked with Larry a little bit about it, Scott, the team manager about it, how it would look at that point.
Toronto is another race we didn’t get to last year in a full-time schedule that I always love racing north of the border.

Q. In terms of your expectations for this season, given the team have done well in testing, what are your hopes they’ll do this year?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: I think we had really good cars by the end of the road course events. If it was the Harvest Grand Prix or the Indy GP in July. Temperatures will all be a little different in the beginning of May than they were on July 4th when we raced there last year.
Pretty good cars for the Indy 500 last year in August. Kind of the nice thing about the 500 being in August, there hasn’t been too much time for development, but the time there has been, the team has been really efficient in taking those steps forward.
I know that Team Chevy has been working hard across the winter. I have a lot of confidence heading into both configurations of racetracks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when I’ll be behind the wheel.

Q. It is a direct focus kind of a season at this point. What do you think are your biggest challenges with A.J. Foyt going to the 500 and what do you want to work on the most?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Well, I think the biggest challenge for me at least is getting up to speed as quickly as possible. I don’t think at the moment I have any test days or many test days planned before the GMR Grand Prix. When I get in the car for that first practice, I’ve got to be ready to go from lap one all the way through that weekend, make sure to take care of the car, take care of the engine, take care of the parts so when we roll into practice for the Indy 500, I’m ready to go.
I think the biggest challenge for me will be making sure that I can get the rust knocked off as soon as possible.

Q. Has there been any changes in your preparation now that you’re really focused, a dedicated focus for IMS?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Training-wise, physically at least the (indiscernible) has adjusted a little bit. The first time I’m in the car is the middle of May, whereas a lot of drivers I’m training with are middle of April. I have an extra four weeks to build my fitness, to make sure that I am overly prepared for those two races, and able to take advantage of any opportunities, other things and additional opportunities that come my way throughout the year.

Q. How is the relationship with Dalton and Sebastien as it relates to trying to make certain setups right?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Well, it’s really good. Working with Dalton, he obviously has an engineering degree, I see him a lot in the gym. Sebastien, I really enjoyed the races we got to work together, the test days at the beginning of last year pre-pandemic, then the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg last October was a lot of fun. Great results, two A.J. Foyt cars in the top 10. Then got to spend a little bit of downtime with Sebastien and his family after the race weekend, which was really neat.
I think that dynamic and personal connection means that when you get into the engineering office, things flow that much easier.

Q. Not the first time that a truncated Indy 500 type of season has ever been done and I hope you win.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Appreciate it. Thank you.

Q. You know I’m into racing. I also know you have two kids. Do you ever think you could see your kids getting into racing like you?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: I hope they find the same passion that I have for racing in whatever they do. I know that sounds like such a dad answer, and I’m sorry for it. But it’s so true. I just hope that they find something they love as much as I love INDYCAR racing and love racing cars. Whatever that is, we will support them.
Sometimes I kind of hope they find maybe an easier, less stressful job than driving an INDYCAR. Yeah, maybe playing golf or something, not racing INDYCARS. At the same time if they do, I know my wife and I are going to be supportive of it.
Thanks, Asher. Great to hear from you.

THE MODERATOR: Charlie, we appreciate you coming in and taking the time. Looking forward to seeing you throughout the month of May, Indianapolis, best of luck to you.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Thanks, guys.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:

THE MODERATOR: Pato, welcome. Thanks for joining us. Driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. Had a great season last year.
Pato, you really established yourself last year as a star in this series. You were in contention right up there for the title. What are the expectations for 2021, and how is the preparation going for the season?
PATO O’WARD: Man, I think it’s hard to put expectations, certain expectations down, but I think it’s nothing hidden. We want to win races. We want to win races. We want to be consistently fighting for podiums, and we want to be there. We want to be contenders every single race weekend.
I think in doing so, that’ll put us in a position at the end of the year to fight for the championship. That is the goal. I want to get to Long Beach having a possibility to win the championship. That’s why we do this, man. We do this to win races, win championships. The team has been working really, really hard to just make everything that we had last year better.
Me as a driver, I’m just trying to do everything I can to be better physically, mentally, preparation-wise, honestly anything I can do that will make my life and the team’s life easier at the race weekend, I’m all for it.

Q. You look at a lot of the guys who you’re battling on track, and maybe for the championship, and there’s a lot of — Will Power, Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Taku, Seb Bourdais, these guys are in their 40s and have been racing in INDYCAR for a decade or in some cases two decades. How do guys like you and Colton accelerate the wisdom curve or the learning curve to try and keep up with these guys?
PATO O’WARD: I mean, I can’t talk on behalf of Colton because I’m not him, but from just being teammates with him and just knowing myself, we like to win. We do this to be competitive. We don’t do this to be fifth and tenth and 15th. No, we want to do this and actually win races, be on the podium, be contenders.
The reason why race teams and race drivers do this is because that high and that feeling that you get when you win is unlike anything else I have ever experienced. There’s a lot more lows than highs in racing usually, but you keep going because of those highs, of just that feeling of winning.
Me as a person, I like to win. I’m very competitive in everything that I do. I ask a lot from myself, that being, you’ve got to be competitive, man. If I’m not in contention or if I’m not on the pace, I won’t be happy. That’s just something that’s how I naturally am. That’s how the team is, as well. We all want to win.
What’s nice is that every single member of the team has their job, but everyone is pushing and rowing towards the same goal, and that is winning races or challenging for championships.

Q. I wanted to ask, obviously I don’t think anyone could help but just layer praise on you for how your campaign went last year. We would suggest there’s not a whole lot you need to do better. But I would assume you’ve identified places where you can improve. Can you give us some idea where those areas are?
PATO O’WARD: Man, I rewatched every race where we were in contention, both Iowa races, both Gateway races, Road America. Just from things that I learned last year, you qualify up front, you make your life so much easier.
Another thing is that pit stops are huge in INDYCAR racing. I lost a lot of my race wins because we didn’t execute in the pits, and that’s huge. I feel like our pace was very, very strong. I think we were very strong in many places that we went to all year.
But where we need to push this year, and we may need to make sure if we have a mistake it has to be minimized, is in the pits, and me as a driver just do my job. I know that if we can accomplish that, we will get race wins because if the pace is there, just like last year but maybe even a little bit better, qualifying further up front should make it easier on us, every single pit stop, execute, execute, execute. I think that’s what’s going to make us be in contention by the end of the year.
Last year getting to St. Pete, I think second was the best we could have done. But we want to get to Long Beach knowing that there is a possibility of being able to win the championship. That is the goal.
We set a bar very high last year. I agree. I looked back and I said, That’s a mega year. My first full year in INDYCAR and I even exceeded my expectations. But that put a very high bar, and now we want to make that better.
Is it going to be easy? No, it’s going to be ridiculously hard. But I think if we just take everything step by step and everyone does their job, minimize mistakes, we should be in the fight in the end.

Q. There’s an old saying that in order to be the best you’ve got to beat the best. At a time when from top to bottom the series is probably as great as it’s ever been in history, to be this competitive against this type of competition, how good does that make you feel?
PATO O’WARD: Man, obviously it makes you feel good, but something that I feel like we naturally just do is that we always want more. Last year going into the season we didn’t really have any expectations, we just wanted to try and do our best, and we set the bar really high.
Now that is the low point of what we want to accomplish this season. I mean, we want to do that or better, and we always strive for more.
I feel like last year we left a lot of unfinished business. We were close to winning four races, and we didn’t get it done. We didn’t get it done. There were tough pills to swallow, and I felt like that left everyone in the team so hungry. I can see it from the off-season, just how much work has been put into the development of trying to make the cars go faster at the speedway and road courses.
Me as a driver, I truly don’t think I’ve ever been fitter, more ready to try and win the thing. I have lots of faith in the team. I have lots of faith in what we can accomplish as a group. It’s going to be ridiculously hard, but it is possible.
I have lots of faith that we can make some great stuff happen this year.

Q. How much do you believe this is your time?
PATO O’WARD: Man, I go into every year thinking that this is the time to do it. You have to — I mean, at least this is how I approach it. You have to approach every single weekend, whether you’re racing with Scott Dixon or Lewis Hamilton, you have to get there every race weekend and you have to believe as a group, not as a driver but as a group, that you can beat them. You have to believe that you can beat the best. If not, you’re always going to be a step behind, and you don’t want to be a step behind. You want to compete against them.
I think this year we just have to take everything step by step and not get ahead of ourselves. But I think if we follow our mentality of what we did last year, be consistent and just all the results, just one-up them, every single place, that should put us in very good position.

Q. With the goals that you and your team have set up for the season, does the fact that there are lots of good Mexican drivers this year, does that add some pressure or is it just extra motivation to get the results?
PATO O’WARD: Man, I get that question so many times, like, Hey, do you feel the pressure? Man, pressure is whenever you go into a race weekend and you have no idea what’s going to happen with the rest of your career. That’s pressure.
I feel so fortunate to be in a position and so grateful for the opportunity that Sam, Rick, Zach gave me starting last year. As a driver, I feel honestly the least pressure I’ve ever felt in my whole life because you know what you’re going to do. You have something to look forward to. You know that what you’re doing is to improve on whether it is INDYCAR or whatever it may be, but there is something to look forward to.
It’s really hard whenever there isn’t much to look forward to and you’re just in the waiting room seeing what’s going to happen. To me that is pressure. This to me is just, man, enjoy and love what you do.
I love what I do. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I love my team. I love where I’m at. Great group of people. Lots of very, very smart people. I have so much faith that we can get some really good stuff done this year.
I don’t think pressure is the right way to say it, but I just think there is expectation and there is the will and the determination to get things done.

Q. How was working with Juan Montoya earlier this week in the Laguna test?
PATO O’WARD: Mega, man. This guy is a legend. I had so much fun with him.
I think Juan, Felix and I, I feel like all three of us make a really good team because you’ve got Juan Montoya, 45, got all the experience in the world. Then you’ve got Felix turning 30 this year, driven so many different series, so many different cars. Then you’ve got the young one, me. I just feel like we all make a good combo.
I think we’re all willing to work together to create a very strong package wherever it may be, and I think that’s going to be so valuable, especially at the 500. Montoya has won the thing twice, so he knows what it takes to have a winning car there, so I want to learn as much as I can from him.

Q. The continuous piece of the team in terms of the drivers for the season, how much do you feel like the team can step forward with the kind of unique format that you have with the kind of people back at McLaren’s place in the UK and obviously none of the other INDYCAR teams kind of working in the same way? How much benefit do you see that being this season with having a year of that under the team’s belt and kind of learning where all these pieces fit?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, man, thanks for the question. I think — good question. I think the best way I can explain it is that last year was such an odd year, not just for motorsports but just in life in general. You had to be very flexible with schedules.
Last year was actually the first year, especially McLaren, had an insight of what INDYCAR is like and where you can gain or lose a lot of time. I think that’s where I hope this year we see some big improvements, because to be completely honest with you guys, last year we raced with 2019 cars. There was nothing different. It was identical to what the team had learned in 2019.
I think having a year under our belts and the engineers knowing what I like and how I go about things, I think that just helps everyone work better and more efficient. I have lots of faith that all those small guys behind the computer doing all the analysis and the developments of either it can be a road course, street course, superspeedway for drag, aero, whatever it may be, I feel like in this off-season they had a direction and they had more of a clear picture of where they had to work, to work at or see where there was massive improvements to be made.
Hopefully this year we’re going to see it, man. I don’t know what to say because I don’t see all the stuff that goes behind the scenes. But I know there has been a lot of just hard work, hard work and trying to find anything that they can to make the cars go better, make my life easier, and then it’s my turn to return it in results this year.

Q. You’ve kind of talked about personally trying to get in a better position to win races, but are there any certain tracks you feel like you could improve on?
PATO O’WARD: I think I’m still a long ways to learn in superspeedways because it’s new to me. You just don’t learn it from one night to another or from one race to the other. So I think that’s where I can see myself improving. I want to improve, and just I want to be better in just knowing what to expect a little bit more.
Heading into one of those races, for example the 500 for Iowa, it was like driving into a black hole. It’s just like, let’s see what this has for us. I think that is somewhere where I think I can improve on, and I will be working hard to try and learn as much as I can.
I think it’s just a learning process. You don’t learn it all in one year or two years. It can take 10 years. But I just think the more you can learn, the faster, the better you’re going to be off in your career.
Man, in certain other tracks, for starters, Mid-Ohio, don’t crash in practice. Man, I think we had the pace in many places, we just didn’t either take advantage of the qualifying or there was an issue with the car and we couldn’t really extract everything that we could have. I think those little details of just making sure everything is good and ready to go is going to pay off in the end.
Man, starting up front, if you’re starting within the first two or three lanes compared to if you’re starting like 12th, 14th, man, the difference that it makes for how the car feels, strategy, fuel saving, your windows just open up so much more when you’re up front.
It’s crucial. It’s crucial. Qualifying is really important to have a good race day.

Q. You mentioned 2019 cars you guys were using last year. Will these be 2021 brand-new cars you guys are going to use this year?
PATO O’WARD: No, the same ones that we used last year. We’re just going to start improving on what we want to improve on in certain circuits. It can be entry, exit, depends on the track.
I just think the issue that we run into now is that testing was so limited that it doesn’t really give you a lot of time to test different items, and you can’t fully rely on simulators because they’re just — frankly, it’s just not the real car.
There is some sort of like risk versus reward when you go into a completely different philosophy when you arrive to a weekend. It can either be a hit or it can be terrible. That’s where having two or three cars comes into play, where one of them can try it. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, you just go back to what the other two cars have and the other guys can give you kind of like a reference idea of where the car is at.
I think just in that sense it’s difficult to see where all the improvements have to be made. You just have to wait until you get there and you test it all out, feel it out.

THE MODERATOR: Pato, we appreciate your time. Best of luck to you this season. Enjoy the rest of Content Day.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO.22 TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FORMER SERIES CHAMPION AND INDIANAPOLIS 500 WINNER:

THE MODERATOR: Simon Pagenaud, driver of the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet.
Welcome, good morning.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Good morning. How are you?

THE MODERATOR: Good. What’s the outlook this year? What are the expectations, preparation? How have things been going in testing?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, I’ve been grinding, let me tell you. It’s been a very interesting winter. I’ve worked on more details than I’ve ever worked before, which is great. And with more and more data, technology, you can really dig deep and just perfect your craft even better than in the past.
Obviously Team Penske has been able to provide me all the information I needed to get ready for the season, so personally I feel like I’ve really worked really well. I feel very ready for the season and very excited. Like I said, I’m a grinder. I’ve been working hard, and I’m ready for the challenge.
Obviously number one priority for me is the 500, trying to get a second ring. Obviously like I did in ’19, we got so close to winning the championship, as well. Well, we’re going to try to do it this year.
The team, on their side, they’ve been working really hard. Gaining speed for the Speedway mostly was number one for them as well. Lately there’s been a huge push on the road course and street course, and I feel like we’re gelling really well as a team with my teammates and everybody on the team. It’s a pretty exciting time.
When we go testing it’s probably my favorite time of the year.

THE MODERATOR: You worked an awful lot after ’19 because of winning the 500. We all know the extra work that comes with winning 500. What’s been the big focus during this off-season? Has it been training? Has it been engineering debriefs? What’s consumed so much of the time?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, a lot of the time was going through every single practice and qualifying and race and trying to understand how to gain time in every single thing that you do as a driver.
There’s a lot of people around me, of course, that takes care of the race car, the pit stops and so on and so forth, but there are a lot of things that you do as a driver that you can’t just let it aside. I can’t say the details because I don’t want to give any hint to the other drivers. I will write a book after racing.
But I did go in very fine details, more than I ever have. I believe it will give me the edge on some things, and I believe it will allow my performance to go up in general.
2020 was interesting. Honestly it’s a combination of things that didn’t work out the way I wanted. Obviously the car change made a big difference. The lack of testing made a big impact on my season. Yeah, we ended up where we did. Not happy about it, so it gave me even more desire to do well for 2021.
That’s where we’re at.

Q. I wanted to start with you guys announced that Ally car is going to do the endurance races. How do you feel about that, and what did you like about the Rolex?
SIMON PAGENAUD: I feel great about it. The more I drive, the better. It’s great to be able to go from one car to another. It just keeps me fresh, mentally speaking, and it allows me to adapt to one situation and another, which is a really good skill to have.
Working with Jimmie has been a lot of fun. Jimmie and I — I feel like Jimmie is my big brother quite frankly. It’s like looking in a mirror over 10 years of time. It’s been really cool. It’s obviously an honor, quite frankly, to work with him. Seeing the traits of a great champion, because there are champions, but he’s a great champion. It’s been really nice to see the inside of it.
Kamui Kobayashi has been fun to work with, a very different culture. That is very interesting as well. You keep learning as you meet people, and I’ve really enjoyed that. That’s four races, four more races, and that’s going to, I think, help me to be even sharper for the season.
Daytona has really helped me with assessing mentally and physically where I was, and very happy with it so far.

Q. Is that a winning car? Can you guys win in that car?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yes, yes, definitely. I think we can. I think we showed it at Daytona. We have to iron some kinks and work on some details, a bit like we just talked about in the intro. But it was also because that was a new car, a new team within Action Express. But it was a very strong showing for the first race.

Q. I asked Will this yesterday, I’m going to ask you, as well. Are you in a contract year in INDYCAR?
SIMON PAGENAUD: That’s an interesting question, obviously the kind of questions that you would expect from reporters.
At the moment I don’t see why there would be a need to talk about it. The season hasn’t even started.

Q. I ask it because I don’t know if it puts pressure on you this year. I don’t know how you are approaching the year from a mental standpoint.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, my personal opinion is just go out there and do the best you can, race hard and be in the moment. The contracts will take care of themselves when they do.
It’s too early to tell anyway. But yeah, I always race as hard as I can. My motto is having no regrets ever, so I work hard, and I want to have no regrets. So if I have no regrets, there’s no reason it shouldn’t continue.

Q. What did you think about the final lap of the Daytona 500?
SIMON PAGENAUD: (Laughing). Yes.
Q. As a Penske driver I’m wondering what you thought.
SIMON PAGENAUD: What did I think of it? Well, it was midnight. I was in my bed, and I couldn’t stop watching. I was waiting. Okay, let me back up a bit.
I watched the entire race, and I could have recorded it, but I was so eager to learn the move. And Denny Hamlin was showing stuff that I really liked. I was waiting to see him come back and all that. And then Joey and Brad got to the front, and that was extremely good strategy from the team on the pit stop. Especially on Brad’s and the way the Fords pitted all together when they did was extremely well-timed, and that changed everything. All of a sudden I was hooked. It was like, Okay, what’s about to happen here? What happened is racing in my opinion.
I had a lot of chats with a lot of people about this. I put myself in the situation at the Indy 500, for example, when I was in that last lap with Rossi. Obviously he wasn’t my teammate, but you’re going for the win, you’re going to race, you’re going to race hard. And if Rossi raced me harder, I would have raced harder and maybe we would have ended up in the wall quite frankly because I wasn’t going to give up because you want that win so bad.
I think in Brad’s case, he went for it. There was a gap he prepared so well. You guys need to watch what he was preparing for a few laps. Phenomenal work. He went for it, there was a gap, and Joey wants to win the race because he’s leading the 500. That’s the nature of racing right now in those races.
You can blame whoever you want. To me that was a racing incident. Both drivers have to go for it, otherwise they shouldn’t drive for such a great team.

Q. If you watched the whole race, did that include the Days of Thunder documentary?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, of course. That’s one of my favorite movies of all time. I really enjoyed the documentary and I think that was an amazing way to fill up the gap.

Q. You know The Barn is across the street from Hickory Tavern.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I go there. I mean, I go by there all the time. I’ve taken pictures actually.
Q. Speaking of pressure, you’ve been in this series now for a while, so you’re a savvy veteran, but can you ever recall from top to bottom a more stacked series? There are no strokes out there.
SIMON PAGENAUD: No, it’s very competitive right now, and I think every team has a good handle on the race car, as well, which makes it even tougher because the cars are so similar. There’s no margin for error.
Even though we have paddle shift, even your upshift points is very important in qualifying. You miss it by five-hundredths of a second, you might miss the Fast Six and find yourself starting in 12th position, which is crazy. Changes your whole weekend.
If you look at Rinus, if you look at Pato, if you look at Colton Herta, if you look at Scott McLaughlin now, he’s going to be stellar. You look at Romain Grosjean coming in. Obviously all these guys are expert in what they do, and it’s going to be a very interesting season.
The field is stacked. It’s incredible.

Q. Just to follow up on the Daytona question, did you kind of feel bad for Austin Cindric because he was getting ready to have a great finish in the Daytona 500 and he ended up getting lowered into the deep fryer?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Austin is doing phenomenal. I’m so happy for him. He’s a hard worker, and quite honestly he’s done it on his own. Obviously Tim is behind him helping, but mostly with advice. The rest is all Austin doing the job. It’s awesome to see.
Obviously he’s getting the support that he deserves because he’s doing a great job. He’s shown it in the Xfinity races, and he’s backed it up already winning the championship. He shows up next year, and bam, he’s right on it winning races. It’s fun to watch. He’s got that aggressiveness but also he’s smart and confident. I like that. I like who he’s become as a driver.
The 500, you know, unfortunately the way the racing is right now, you expect that you might end up in a wreck. He was in a good position for a long time and showed his name up front.

Q. To follow up on Daytona a little bit, were you surprised that Joey and Brad wrecked each other, knowing that the cardinal rule is team owners tell their drivers race each other hard but the one thing you can’t do is wreck each other? I’m sure Roger has probably preached that to you guys.
SIMON PAGENAUD: I’ll tell you what, when it happened, I was like, Oh, what’s going to happen Monday? It’s really bad for all the guys on the team.
They obviously prepared the fastest cars, and the strategy again was amazing. The crew chiefs did a great job, the spotters, everyone involved. You’re talking about 500 plus people working nonstop to get the speed and understand how to get their drivers up front.
Then we got two amazing drivers there doing the same. But I know the rules. I know how it goes at Team Penske and I know what we represent. We represent the brand. We represent our partners and we’re supposed to be in Victory Lane at the end.
I mean, if you think about it, I don’t want to talk for Roger, but if you own a race team and your drivers don’t go for the win, then what’s the point on racing? At the end of the day, that’s what it is.
As reporters I think you should be glad that’s how it goes at Penske, that we’re allowed to race still. They don’t tell you stay behind. They let you race and that’s fantastic to see. Sometimes it is an advantage to the team, yes, but how beautiful is it for the sport.

Q. Scott McLaughlin was here yesterday and he was telling us his expectations are rather tempered. You’ve been in that position and had a lot of success in your first year. What’s it like coming to Penske and being the new guy and trying to get acclimated and adapt? Are you going to help him at all with that transition?
SIMON PAGENAUD: First of all, he’s going to win a race. I guarantee it. He’s going to win at least a race this year. He’s a phenomenal driver. He’s got a great drive, and really good feedback, as well. I’ve really liked him coming on board.
It’s four drivers now. It’s a little bit more — it’s a good number working together. It helps having him, having his engineer and everybody that was added from the sports car program.
I think the INDYCAR program got a lot stronger suddenly because of that venue. Really excited about having him on the team.
I’ll tell you what, he’s going to be tough to beat in the future. He’s going to be a champion. He’s being tempered because he has to be. But I’ll tell you what, on the other side, seeing what he can do, expect great things.

Q. I’m curious with Scott’s addition, there have been times where this Team Penske crew has been at four cars and that typically doesn’t last too long. When you have four cars in this program, what do you see as the benefits of adding a driver like Scott, which I know you obviously have a lot of respect for? Are there any drawbacks, whether just adding a little bit more people to the mix or any more pressure from you guys to have just one more driver that you feel like you need to beat?
SIMON PAGENAUD: I think it’s only positives, quite frankly. I think three is an odd number because three, it’s always kind of difficult to get everything to work well together. Now there’s two — it can be two and two. It’s always quite well-balanced. That’s the word I’m looking for. It’s really well-balanced within the team.
We’ve added people from the sports car program that were stellar, stellar people, and it’s really reinforced the team because now we’ve got a little bit more people so we can diverse the task, whether it’s aerodynamics, whether it’s the damper program, whether it’s the simulator program or all that kind of stuff. We’ve got more people working on all these tasks.
It’s helped. It’s helped massively. It’s helped to have fresh blood coming in, also, and having another vision on things. Sometimes it’s good to get refreshing ideas.
It’s always been very positive. I don’t see how it could draw anything out of it — draw, withdraw? I’m pretty excited about this. To me it’s only been good to be four as long as I’ve been at Team Penske. This is year seven already.
Yeah, I think it’s going to be a very good season for us as a team.

THE MODERATOR: We thank you for your time. We wish you the best of luck.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Love it. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.